Yesterday, the city of Jacksonville and the Jaguars announced plans for major renovations to the north end zone at EverBank Field. Why should we care about that? Well, because tucked away in that announcement is the news that around 7,000 seats will be yanked out of there to accommodate the changes, although we’re assured that “temporary seating can be installed for major events that will require a larger stadium capacity”.

Uh, huh.

There’s Cocktail Party lip service in the announcement, but let’s face it – there’s no way there’s enough room elsewhere for temporary seating to make up for the loss of 7,000 seats. Which means the inevitable law of supply and demand is about to work its magic on our wallets. More money and crappier seating. Ain’t it great?

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As much as I love re-living my college years in the Dawg friendly compounds of Saint Simmons Island, I would love to see a rotating schedule. Hell, even mix in a Home and Home. Would love to watch the Dawgs in the swamp in person, and also welcome our neighbors to the south to some southern hospitality in Sanford.

Both the Swamp and Sanford Stadium have substantially more seats than JAX has now–and JAX is going to remove 7,000 of them? Even if the city continues to bribe both teams to play there at some point somebody needs to bring up the fan-access issue.

Keeping the WLOCP every other year is great for the unique tradition of the rivalry, keeps the S GA fanbase happy, as well continues the FL/S GA recruiting pipelines.

Then with the alternate every other year, rotate in the Dome(New ATL Stadium)/Athens/Gainesville. With the new ATL stadium, this would be a huge draw, and would inject new blood in the series — not that its needed, just that its possible.

I distinctly recall temporary seating being added in the late 90s right after the new stadium opened that pushed the capacity much higher than for the NFL games. They sat 75,000 or so for Jags games and almost 85,000 for the WLOCP.

It seems to me that this is about to be a defining period for the Jaguars and it follows, for the GA/FL game remaining in Jacksonville.

Weaver basically had his hand out for the city of Jacksonville to do everything for him since he owned the team. Spend his own money? Hell no! Kahn on the other hand wants to win, wants to own the city and will do anything to accomplish it. While yes, Jville is spending some on this, Kahn is committing almost 40 mill on this project and other stadium renovations.

As time goes on, IF he keeps spending his money, and IF he turns Jacksonville into a winner, HE is going to tell Jacksonville what he wants and will get it.

What might that mean for the Cocktail Party? Maybe nothing. BUT, suppose he wants to rework his lease and himself and the Jaguars control elements such as concessions and parking at ALL stadium events. That could reduce the guarantee that COJ can offer to UF and UGA to keep the game their. AND if the Jags are rocking and rolling, there is less incentive to kiss ass to keep the Cocktail Party in town.

Just keep that in mind as time goes on. With Kahn owning the team now, this whole situation could change dramatically.

Actually, that is the one scenario going forward that is probably best for keeping the Cocktail Party in Jacksonville. If Kahn isn’t successful in Jax, he is either going to move the franchise to another city or sell it to someone who will move it. This is the last stand for an NFL franchise trying to make it in Jax.

If he’s successful there, the stadium and its surrounding area stays up-to-date. If the franchise moves, forget it. And there’s no way the administrations at UGA and UF are going to allow the Cocktail Party to revert back to playing in an old, out-of-date stadium.

Jacksonville doesn’t have the money it would take to keep the game in an old, outdated facility long term. They would have lost the game 20 years ago if they didn’t get the Jaguars and the new stadium that came with them. The Cocktail Party would have ended up either on-campus or at the new (at the time) Georgia Dome. The same thing will happen at some point in the future if the Jaguars leave.

Atlanta can’t rip it away from Jax when Jax has a main tenant for its stadium to help share (or outright pay for) the renovation costs that it takes to keep the stadium updated. When that tenant is gone, things change. The money isn’t there to both bribe the schools and renovate the stadium on a consistent basis for the long term (the schools don’t want to play in an old, out of date stadium).

Again, Jacksonville would have lost the Cocktail Party 20 years ago if it weren’t for the Jaguars. This current stadium, Everbank Field, doesn’t even exist without them.

And it certainly won’t help matters that the loss of a guaranteed home game every year is looming for both schools (i.e. going to a 9 game conf schedule). The schools will be dying to fill in that home schedule gap. Not to mention that Atlanta is about to build a brand new, state of the art stadium. The lure of that will be strong as well.

Fans who want the game to stay in Jax better hope like hell that things work out for Khan down there and that the Jaguars stick around. The Jags could leave and the game could possibly stick around there for another 10-15 years…but long term it would be doomed.

I never said they did. But they do give a rip if the stadium gets older and older with no major renovation or rebuild in sight. Or if Jacksonville can’t offer them the same dollars they used to b/c they’re having to try to keep the stadium’s head above water with no partner to share in the costs. Or both.

There is one other factor that may become relevant going forward–scheduling. Both UGA and FU lose a home game every 2 years by playing in JAX. If the SEC goes to 9 conference games plus there is some sort of mandate to play a more stringent OOC schedule requiring home and away commitments both teams may have to start playing the game in their own venues to make the home game schedules work. This is a mutual problem.

Yeah, one-shot preseason bowl-type games with no return engagement required. Bama can do that and still have 6 or 7 home games because they are not committed to an on-going neutral site game with a conference foe every year. I would love for the Dawgs to open up with Michigan at JerryWorld or Texas in the SuperDome but that can’t happen on a regular basis because the WLOCP takes away a home game every 2 seasons.

P.S. It can happen if we pair our opening bowl-type game with the years when UGA is the fictional visitor in the WLOCP. In those years the Dawgs get 4 SEC home games. But then we have the problem of coordinating that with the Tech game.

While no huge fan of JAX, or any other city in Florida for that matter, you have a solid point about the argument against Atlanta. It is the worst run, and most dangerous city in the South. Why would anyone want to help support them, or the stupid decision to build another stadium when the one they have is very functional. Besides the SECCG, dinner at Hal’s/drinks at the Capital Grille, and a few quick trips to the Kennesaw Total Wine Store per year, if I am seen in Atlanta these days it would be under duress. I do remember the late sixties and most of the seventies when the ATL was a rising star amongst America’s up and comers, that day has passed. Since DirectTV forces the Atlanta news stations on the North Georgia mountains these days, I get reminded daily how far they have fallen.

The JAX stadium may not be the finest but the Ga/Fla game will always a special tradition as long as it stays in Jacksonville.

Not wanting to wax nostalgic too much but I also remember those halcyon days in the late 60s and early 70s when Atlanta was simply the best place to live in the US if you were single. The town was still basically safe and the women were the best-looking anywhere. Things started coming apart in the mid-70s and the acceleration downhill continues even to this day. Total failure of government at the city, regional and state level. We had a golden goose and the they systematically killed it.

The same people that think Les and Co are a bunch of whiney DBs for wanting to end Ga-AU and Al-Tn in the name of fairness are the same people whining about Jacksonville being a dump and wanting to move the game in the name of fairness. Do you not see the hypocrisy? I can think if no other regular season game that the sudents, players and a whole lot of fans look more forward to than Ga-Fl in J’Ville. And I haven’t been in 20 years.

And sorry ATL isn’t the quaint town of your youth. Shocking what doubling the population will do. I also remember fondly my youth in ATL in the 70’s when there was no crime (just don’t let pesky crime stats get in the way of your revisionist nostalgia). Stay away from Hal’s. I don’t need it any harder to get up to the bar.

Actually, Hal’s has lots of enjoyable food but I rarely eat steaks out. I can that as well as anyone, usually get food I cannot cook as well as they can. It’s the uniqueness of the bar that makes it worth the drive, and the food is excellent too. And Zero, it isn’t all about the population growth, but you know that anyway. Fortunately, I am rarely there during the bad traffic times which has gotten much worse due to number of folks.

The secret to Atlanta is living in town. I know it sounds crazy but traffic in Buckhead/ Brookhaven, etc is a breeze. On the weekends it’s great too. Everyplace I need to go is within 3 miles of my doorstep. It’s the suburbs OTP that cause the misconceptions. I couldn’t live there either. Sorry Jax for going off topic again.

You guys are both right. I lived in ATL 12 years, moved to Jax 8 yrs ago. I miss Hal’s and alot of other places but the grind of Atlanta was just too much. Zero is right, live 3-5 miles from where you work and you’ll be ok. That said, the beaches, golf, beauty of NE Florida is hard to beat. Jacksonfville lacks many ofh te fienr things that Atlanta has but it makes up for it with quality of like (excellent) and excellent civic leadership. With the advantage of our port and great airport, looks for great things from here over the next 20 years.

Bloviation for the Dawgnation

Quote Of The Day

“It brings back a great Bulldog running back in Thomas who has NFL playing experience and has had success as a college coach at multiple schools. He also inherits a position that has been built to an elite level by Bryan. And it gives Bryan the opportunity to return to coaching the position he played and the one where he cut his teeth serving as a graduate assistant under wide receiver coach John Eason here at UGA. It also provides him with a new experience as a passing game coordinator.” -- Mark Richt, AB-H, 2/16/15